Whales Face New Dangers From Climate Change

10/8/2017

https://youtu.be/Pvhq8X67g58

As Seas Warm, Whales Face New Dangers
By KAREN WEINTRAUB
OCT. 2, 2017
Science
The New York Times

MOUNT DESERT ROCK, Me. — From the top of the six-story lighthouse, water stretches beyond the horizon in every direction. A foghorn bleats twice at 22-second intervals, interrupting the endless chatter of herring gulls.

At least twice a day, beginning shortly after dawn, researchers climb steps and ladders and crawl through a modest glass doorway to scan the surrounding sea, looking for the distinctive spout of a whale.

This chunk of rock, about 25 nautical miles from Bar Harbor, is part of a global effort to track and learn more about one of the sea’s most majestic and endangered creatures. So far this year, the small number of sightings here have underscored the growing perils along the East Coast to both humpback whales and North Atlantic right whales.

This past summer, the numbers of humpback whales identified from the rock were abysmal — the team saw only eight instead of the usual dozens. Fifty-three humpbacks have died in the last 19 months, many after colliding with boats or fishing gear.

Continue Reading at The New York Times

1 Comment

Rose Writes

10/9/2017 01:04:49 am

On Thursday, October 5th, 2017, I attended (by phone) the Media Advisory - Technical briefing: Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative report - Incident Report: North Atlantic Right Whale Mortality Event in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 2017. Here is the report: http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/right_whales.php

Notable points:

Pg. 27: "There are no indications that vessel traffic in 2017 was significantly different than 2016 or previous years nor that pattern of use deviated from previously observed."

Pg. 16: "... involvement of an infectious disease in this mortality event is unlikely ..."

UNLIKELY? That is CLEARLY an opinion.

Pg. 16: "Trauma caused by human interaction, particularly vessel collision, has been a major cause of mortality in the population of North Atlantic right whales (Laist et al. 2001; Moore et al. 2004). Campbell-Malone et al. (2008)."

These sources were PRIOR to Zika and Wolbachia-infected Aedes releases.

Can we not look at the phylogenetics of Zika, a novel pathogen, for a moment?

Whales have suffered West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis viruses and Zika shares this clade with over 97 percent support. Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01248/full

N.A. right whales have been spotted as far south as the Bahamas and Mexico. They often have mouth abrasions. There are multiple ways Zika and/or Wolbachia could be infecting them. Mosquito bites are merely ONE way.

Are we going to foolishly cling to Hertig's 1936 results on mice and chicken embryos? Or, are we going to acknowledge and devote resources to testing vertebrates (including humans) for the presence of Wolbachia?

Because here are facts that are being willfully ignored:

The direct effect of Wolbachia can either impede or promote the pathogen's replication and survival (Zug and Hammerstein, 2015). Examples of neutral or pro-pathogenic effect of Wolbachia include: Brugia pahangi (Dutton and Sinkins, 2005); Japanese encephalitis (JE) Virus (Tsai et al., 2006); Drosophila C Virus (Osborne et al., 2009); and Plasmodium gallinaceum (Baton et al., 2013).

Wolbachia Enhances West Nile Virus (WNV) Infection in the Mosquito Culex tarsalis: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0002965

Zika Virus in Salivary Glands of Five Different Species of Wild-Caught Mosquitoes from Mexico: http://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/19/151951

Both Wolbachia and Zika are maternally inherited. This reproductive parasite (Wolbachia) and the Zika virus are in the eggs and larvae of mosquitoes which copepods and krill feed on.

Some species only partially eat Aedes larvae causing their contents to spill out into sea water.

Over 28,000 cases of Zika were reported in Puerto Rico as of Oct. 26th, 2016. The waters surrounding many islands in the Caribbean are obviously teeming with Zika-infected Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, eggs, and larvae.

Testing for Zika should be a no-brainer to any seasoned pathologist.

The ONLY conclusion that can solidly be drawn from this pathology report: TWO whales out of 15 died from entanglement. The four or five attributed to blunt trauma based on "severe internal bleeding" could also be caused by infections or bleeding in transport or even foul play.

When I asked Dr. Daoust about Zika, WNV, SLEV, and Wolbachia, he replied that these whales were in various states of decomposition, downplayed the likelihood of a mosquito biting them, and therefore these were not even considered or tested for.

We demand all testing be done on future North Atlantic right whales that are ill, entangled, or dead (in a timely fashion) and that ALL tests be conducted including: Zika, Wolbachia, West Nile virus, and St. Louis encephalitis virus: https://www.change.org/p/investigate-north-atlantic-right-whale-deaths-without-the-noaa-a-u-s-gov-t-agency/u/21603730

Whales Face New Dangers From Climate Change

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